Patience
by Sim Spider
Summary: Tags to Cloak and Dagger; major spoilers. I know it's been done, but I couldn't help myself.


Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all; and I'm definitely not making any money out of this...

A/N: It was always gonna happen; this is a collection of tags and missing scenes from Cloak and Dagger. Most are, of course, focussed on Gibbs and Tony, but the whole crew will appear.

Many apologies to Trivette for blatantly copying her idea; but you know what it's like when the plot maggot starts wriggling in your brain.

I find it interesting that the only one who had no sympathy for Michelle was Tony. I can't help thinking it has to do with family; Tony is the only one without any.

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Patience

Part I : Think About It

"What?" Tony demanded, looking up from his keyboard in irritation.

"What, what?" McGee asked. The pair were alone in the bullpen; Ziva had driven Gibbs to the hospital and was waiting to bring him back after his finger was stitched up.

"You've been staring at me for the past hour. Do I have something on my face?"

"I was not staring. And no, you don't."

"I know what staring feels like, Probie; it makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck and I'm sprouting a cornfield back there right now. Spit it out already."

"It's just that... I'm kinda surprised at you, Tony."

"Surprised at what, McGiggle?"

"You really weren't very sympathetic to Michelle. I mean, she wasn't all bad..."

"Oh_, now_, she's not all bad? Ever notice how everyone says nice stuff about people after they die? She killed two men, including an NCIS agent, in cold blood, remember?"

"Hey, I had sympathy for her before too," McGee protested. "Everyone did; Gibbs, Ziva, Abby; even the Director. Except you."

"I don't appreciate being lied to."

"You don't seem to have a problem when it's you doing the lying..."

Tony pushed himself violently out of his seat and strode aggressively into McGee's personal space.

"Hey! You think I liked lying to all of you? You think it was easy for me to look into the Gibbs glare of doom and lie, after everything he's done for me? Do you?"

"Of course not, Tony," McGee said placatingly. "I'm just saying, that you know, you've been in that position, and..."

"I was trying to bring down an international arms dealer, Probie. I wasn't selling classified government secrets."

"There was Aries..." McGee reminded him. Tony straightened and moved back towards his own desk, perching on the edge to continue the conversation as he peered at some paperwork.

"Not part of my op. That was all Jenny's idea."

"But you would do whatever they wanted, if your daughter were kidnapped. Anyone would."

"Girl wasn't her daughter."

"Well, her sister... adopted sister... whatever. I would have done anything for Sarah, if she were the one kidnapped. I did, when she was accused of murder."

"Never had a daughter. Or a sister."

"What about Abby? You two have always been close..."

"Anyone tried to kidnap Abbs, Gibbs would take them down hard. Ditto for any of the team."

"Jeanne?"

Tony simply looked at him, features dark and unreadable.

"FBI already cleared me of that one," he said flatly.

"Well, I'm sure there's someone you'd go that far for... right? A... cousin, or a friend, or something..."

"It's not a question of how far I'd go, McGee. Think about it. If someone kidnapped your sister and told you to kill me, or Ziva, what would you do?"

The younger man's response was immediate. "I'd go to Gibbs."

"Give the man a prize. I've been in law enforcement almost fifteen years now, Probie. I've seen a lot of people go down for doing something to protect a loved one. Mother who murdered her husband for beating their kids, father killing his daughter's drug dealing pimp boyfriend. That, I can understand, even if the only people it hurt were those they were trying to keep safe." Tony's eyes went distant for a moment before he continued.

"But killing an innocent man, a colleague, because of a vague threat from a kidnapper? Betraying your friends, your country, without telling anyone, in the hope that the bastard would keep his word and not murder the kid as soon as he had what he wanted? No. That's not just stupid, or irresponsible, or selfish; it's wrong. And I'm not gonna forgive Lee just because she thought she was protecting the little girl."

Tony stood, picking up a report and dropping it on Gibbs' desk before he started to wander in the direction of the men's room.

"Gonna hit the head. I'd get that report done before Gibbs gets back from the ER if I were you; you know how he gets when he's hurting."

Timothy McGee sat back in his chair. Tony did have a point. But Michelle had been a Probie and a lawyer, with little field experience. She was naive, and desperate to protect the child she had raised from a baby. He couldn't blame her for that; and she had, in the end, sacrificed her own life to try to make amends.

And then it occurred to him that for only the third time in his life, he'd had a lengthy, personal and entirely serious conversation with Anthony DiNozzo. The man really was more complex than he pretended; and he also had an excellent point about Gibbs.

By the time Ziva had driven the silver haired agent arrived back from the hospital, there were two neatly typed reports waiting on his desk and another on Ziva's laptop; but Tony was still nowhere to be seen.

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Let me know what you thought.


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